Rate Balcones Texas Special Release

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4 Balcones Texas Special Release ratings

I love Balcones, but . . .
Posted
25 Nov '15
by
Marty
from
United States
with
96 ratings

8

I suspect ratings for this may be all over the place. In a blind taste test, I would think this is a whiskey or a bourbon almost every time. Very oaky, very strong, my bottle says 63.9% alcohol!!! And the price at $68 mirrors that strength.
When I asked for it (it is limited to the back stockrooms at most stores), the clerk told me if I liked rum, I probably wouldn't like it. Well, I know enough about Balcones to know it would be strong and oaky. If you ever get the chance to try this - DO IT!

But . . . I like their other product, Rumble (not a rum, but similar) much better.

5

They make a lot of whiskey at Balcones. Rum? Not so much. I can see why. For one thing, they used a very heavy hand with the molasses, and it pretty much overpowers the finish. Also, they bottled it at 128 proof, but the extra alcohol burn does nothing to enhance the character of this rum. It just makes it boozy. And, as previous reviewer Marty noted, this stuff tastes remarkably like whiskey, bourbon to be precise. (Eventually the bourbon succumbs to the molasses aftertaste). As a rum drinker I'm not impressed that someone's rum tastes like whiskey...or chicken, or spearmint gum for that matter. Actually, if you make whiskey and you make rum and they taste eerily identical, you're probably doing something wrong...

3

Tried the Balcones Texas Special Release and the bottle looks very cheap, label is made by a five year old, but the color is very nice deep dark brown. Smell test reveals pure alcohol and wood over wood. Maybe the kind folks in Texas should stick with making whisky only. Balcones has a nasty burn at the end and not a pleasant lingering of boozy cheap whisky breath. In a blind test, 98% would say this is a cheap Bourbon, 2% would be leaning towards a very dry rum.